This was originally conceived as my entry for Bristol Dinosaur Project's Thecodontosaurus Illustration Competition. Sadly (though perhaps predictably), I failed to make the competition deadline. My attempt to rally a few palaeo-minded friends into entering also bore no fruit, alas. It would have been lovely to see familiar names among the entrants.

Close-up detail views.

My many thanks to Jon Tennant of Green Tea and Velociraptors for very kindly supplying me with the Thecodontosaurus paper (Adam M. Yates (2003)) and Dr. Heinrich Mallison of Dinosaurpalaeo for his input during the progress. I feel like quite the grown-up palaeo artist.

Beautiful, sensitive lines. Clean and well rendered with just the slightest touch of humour(you can't tell me that lizard isn't saying "Yeah roar away bozo" to itself).. must be another Niroot drawing.Gorgeous stuff!

I really like the details in this work. The whole picture is in balance even though the amount of details in it. Also the textures are following the reality. I love to work with ink and I know how much time you can spend with works.. I like this piece of art very much! Great work!

Your sense of space is really pushed here. I'm used to seeing backgrounds given short shrift, or at best a nod to "ambiguous paleobotany". Here, I recognize some species of plant, and the distance to that mountain range is really great. It helps thicken the atmosphere in a way that makes me feel more involved in the space.